Not What They Seem
by Missing A Muse
Summary: Jack Harkness knew that things were never as they seemed, and that even includes New Recruit PC Gwen Cooper.
1. Chapter 1

_Darkness. The Darkness was coming, there was something moving in the Darkness. A figure shrunk into a corner of nothingness, begging to wake up._

_ "WAKE UP!"_

Eyes jerked open as a young woman took a deep raspy breath. The freezing, rank air rushed into her lungs and made her chest feel like it was on fire. Coughing and exhaling, her lungs ached, heart pounding in her ears.

She started to move around and went to sit up, only to slam her head with a loud thump on the ceiling. Metal thudded and rang dull into her ears.

Fear. She tentatively felt to her sides and realized that there were two walls on either side. She felt around and could feel that she was in a thick rubber bag.

"_Oh my god."_ She thought. _"Body Bag. It's a body bag."_

Tears began to roll down her face as she tried to push her arms over her head as hard as she could. She screamed so loud that the vibrations of her voice rang hard in her ears. She kicked the sides with her feet as hard as she could.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The air was getting still and she was getting colder by the minute. But, she kept kicking and slapping the sides of the walls with her bare hands; through the bag. Her brain didn't really register that a loud crank could be heard in the compartment next to her. Her kicking began to slow as she started to gasp for air. In one more surge of strength, she punched above her head as hard as she could. She cried out "NO!" Coughed "No!" and screamed "NO!"

The door flung open and she slid out of the locker. The bag was unzipped to reveal her savior bathed in lights. She breathed in so hard that her lungs ached.

"Well now PC Cooper, you are full of surprises." He said as he pulled her out of the body bag. She looked up at him with a dazed look and promptly fainted. "But that, I expected."

Jack Harkness shook his head, picked her up and kicked the locker door shut. He walked to his office to find her a blanket.

_Two days ago_

Rain, rain and more rain. That's all it ever seemed to do in Cardiff. Such a dreary place Cardiff was, and the life of PC Gwen Cooper was but a stepping-stone in the world around her. The same old day, she would work another crime.

Let's face it. She was bored. There had to be more then this, there just had to be.

All in a matter of minutes, a matter of chance encounters, and some serious investigation; she found that she was right. There was more then just this. There was another world to learn about, to live in.

Aliens. There was an organization that studied alien technology. An organization outside the law, unable to be stopped, she met the crew of Torchwood. All of them greeted her with broad smiles. Smiles that she could tell never fully reached their eyes. She felt cold in the "Hub". It was a feeling of dread that didn't seem to wear off after she left.

Torchwood.

Led by Captain Jack Harkness. The only one to exist on the earth, who happened to be the same one that disappeared 50 years ago, a very handsome man with deep blue eyes and a charming smile.

Jack led her to a nearby pub where he continued to talk about the organization. She remembered the PC that died earlier that day in the station. She sat in front of a glass room and stared at the alien that killed him.

It seemed cold, what they did. They didn't care about anyone other then studying and acquiring new technology. What about the people that were harmed? Their families, would their loved ones just be lost forever? She pleaded with Jack to let her be a liaison with the department. She could help them; at least to provide closure to the victims.

And then there was nothing. No Torchwood, No Jack, No aliens, just nothing. It was like someone erased the most important day of her life. It wasn't until work that she realized that something was off.

There has been a spree of murders in Cardiff. All from knife wounds from behind. When she walked into the station she saw a picture of a drawing of the murder weapon. It was so familiar yet not familiar. In her dreams that night she saw the same knife, only behinds sparks and glass. She fixed herself a cup of tea that night and looked at the pamphlet next to her computer. One little word written in a sharpie marker, one word that made her get dressed and come to the pavilion in the middle of the night.

"Remember"

She walked around the pavilion, trying to recall what it was that she was trying to remember. She didn't even notice the woman with curly hair standing before her.

Gwen listens as "Suzie" talks about the knife and the murders. It is almost as if she is talking to herself. The pieces start to fall into place when Suzie pulls the knife out of her bag to show Gwen.

"I'm placing you under arrest." Gwen said to her, as she watched her carefully.

"You see, I can't let that happen. Jack said you were a smart one. I knew that I would have trouble with you the moment we met."

Suzie put the knife back in her bag and brought out a gun and pointed in directly at Gwen. Gwen noticed her eyes shift to the left, flinching at the fountain.

"You were right Jack, she is a smart one. And so pretty too."

Gwen held her hands up and looked to her right. There was no one standing there.

"Why don't you put the gun down and come with me? I can help you." Gwen pleaded.

Suzie looked back at Gwen with a sad look and she lowered the gun a little. "No one can help me."

She pulled the trigger.

Gwen felt the impact in her chest, her heart felt like it was on fire. She looked up at Suzie and fell to her knees. As her breathing slowed she vaguely heard another shot to her right and something hit the ground. She turned her head to see the body of a man, shot in the head to her right. Losing the battle, she fell to her right and began to stop breathing.

The beating in her ears slowed, her eyes began to darken. Then there was Darkness.

Suzie began to walk towards Gwen, after looking at Jack. She put the gun back in her bag.

"No." A voice from behind her, which made her turn around. A small clink sound was made as a bullet dropped to the ground.

She looked up to see Jack, the bullet hole closing as he stood in front of her. She had never seen him so angry. But Jack wasn't looking at her; he was looking over her shoulder. Suzie looked over at Gwen and sighed.

Jack didn't even stop her when she put the gun under her chin and pulled the trigger. He just stood there and watched. Her body hit the ground with a thud. Jack looked up at the sky and closed his eyes.

He grabbed Suzie by her jacket and pulled her onto the lift. He looked over at Gwen and began to walk towards her. Silently hoping, he touched the vein on the side of her neck.

Nothing.

Jack leaned down and slid his arms under her knees and back. He stood and picked her up. Jack walked over to the lift and took the two women into the hub.

So here he was, standing in front of the two newest additions to the Torchwood morgue. In one locker, was Suzie, his second in command. In the other locker, PC Gwen Cooper, she was right when she told him that they held too much power and not enough accountability.

He looked at her once more before zipping the body bag up and pushing her in the vault. Jack walked to his office, alone with only the dead keeping him company.

Jack was in his office when the banging started. The banging led to going to the vault, which led to opening the two newly occupied lockers. Which led to a young woman sitting on his couch, dressed in his clothes and sipping hot cocoa.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

She shook her head slightly, trying to diffuse the fog in her mind. After a moment, she looked up at him with so many emotions behind her eyes. It almost made him dizzy. "Fine, fine. I'm," She said before trailing off and trying to search for what had vanished from her mind before.

"Fine?" Jack finished for her. She nodded her head and looked down into her mug. "That's Good."

Later that night, Owen and Tosh brought back the alien technology; while Ianto locked away the knife and glove in Jack's safe. Gwen watched the whole thing from the couch in Jack's office.

After everyone left, the Hub was quiet again.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Gwen was startled to see Jack stand up in front of her. She watched as he walked over to his coat stand and put on his long coat. He came to stand in front of her and put his hand in front of her to take.

"Let's get you some air." Jack said to her with a smile.

The two stood on the roof as the sun began to rise. Gwen clutched the blanket to her chest tighter as a harsh wind blew by them.

"It's another day Gwen Cooper. How do you feel?"

Gwen looked out at the city and shrugged. "As good as can be expected. It's not every day that you wake up in the morgue, in a body bag." That fuzzy feeling filled her mind again, just beyond reach, vanishing when she tried to focus on it. She looked up at him, "How long was I out?"

Jack looked down at her and then looked up into the sunset. It was at that moment that Jack did the hardest thing he would ever have to do. "Just over 3 minutes."

Gwen nodded and looked back at the sunrise. She didn't notice Jack watching her.

As Jack averted his eyes for a moment, another secret to be hidden away until its relevancy was necessary. No need to frighten her further.

"So, what now? Are you going to wipe my memory again?"

"Now, that would be a shame. You just woke up in a body bag in the morgue, you can't go back to be a pc after that." He grinned at her. Gwen watched as he stood in front of her with a serious look on his face. "Torchwood has a vacancy. Are you up for it?"

"What could I do for the agency that can do anything?" Gwen laughed, as she turned from him.

"You can stop us." Jack said, looking out at the sunset once more.

Gwen turned to look at him and then turned to the sunset. "Yeah," she said softly. "Yes, I'll do it."

Authors Note: I don't own Torchwood.

Well here it is, Chapter 1. Let me know how you like it or don't like it. One of the things you will notice is that I do not have Rhys in this story. I think he's a weak character personally and I don't care for him much. So he's not in the story.

I will warn the readers that I don't want to post something with errors or that sounds stupid. So that will equal slower posts of new chapters. I'm sorry if that annoys but I promise I will not quite on the story and that I won't post a chapter until I have at least half the other chapter written or planned – Jeers! Jennie


	2. Chapter 2

_Bach's Jesu joy of man's desire floated through the air in the small flat. The soft orange flame of candles licked up towards the ceiling of the bathroom. A long, bubble-covered leg perched gracefully on the edge of the marble antique tub. A few soapy bubbles were unlucky enough to fall from the delicate toes to land on the moistened tile below._

_ Following the rim of the tub there was a feminine hand holding a glass of amber liquid. A little bit further and you would see a head of brown hair tied up in a loose bun, thin strands were escaping from the rest of their delicate perch, the head rested on a soft towel. _

Gwen Cooper opened her eyes and sighed; she brought her drink up to her mouth and drank deeply from the glass. As she felt the harsh liquid scorch her throat, she recalled the events of her day with Torchwood.

This was the worst first day ever, if there was a book that contained all the worst days; this would have been at the top of the list. Maybe up there with the day that Charlie Chaplin ate his own shoe by mistake.

The night had started out normal enough; she had just finished catching a nap while watching a movie that Andy suggested she go see. It was in the middle of dinner that her real night started.

The thing, she realized quickly, is that Torchwood did not have any set hours of operation. After Jack "hired" her that morning, he sent her promptly home to "rest".

Gwen watched the liquid in her glass swirl against the sides, not spilling a drop. She couldn't recall what compelled her to go to the part of town that night, but she arrived just in time to see the spaceship hurtling out of the sky and towards the ground. She then promptly broke said ship, thus releasing an alien life form and causing the deaths of at least 5 men.

Gwen could remember being pushed out of the cell by Carys after she was sent in to interrogate her. Interrogation led to kissing and kissing led to Owen probably making some money on the surveillance that was taken during that time. Once she caught her breath and gathered her wits she heard Jack and Tosh running down the stairs to get to her.

Jack looked generally worried for her safety, as they stood in silence for a few moments. Until he opened his mouth, like Jack has the tendency to do.

"So, PC Cooper," Jack started as he walked away from her to the stairs, "who taught you how to interrogate and where do I meet them?"

In hindsight, she was glad that there weren't any weapons near the cells. She likely would have used them on him, or herself.

It wasn't until after dinner that she really began to realize why she was needed at Torchwood. She had feelings; she felt pain for Cary and the alien life form that took over her body.

As she sat in the room where she was profiling Cary, her hands began to double tap softly on the desk in front of her. The dull thumbing began pounding in her ears. She was brought out of her daze when Jack knocked on the desk, startling her for a moment.

"You know I met Saxon once at a party, great kisser."

She turned her head to face the tellie, and was greeted with the face of Harold Saxon. He was spouting about one of his many promises that he would fulfill if he became Prime Minister, his new Archangel Network being one of them.

"Somehow, Jack that doesn't surprise me one bit."

Gwen angrily brought her left hand down to splash the water in the tub. After all that hard work and trying to bring a little bit of humanity into that cold place, he let the girl go in order to save a hand.

But in the heat of the oncoming storm with an alien life form, he was still the one who broke the cold. She could still remember the groans heard throughout the SUV when he gave her the gun.

He looked at her with shielded eyes and chuckled, "So they taught you how to interrogate but they didn't teach you how to use a gun?"

"After they taught me how to interrogate, do you think I would actually need a gun?" Gwen replied sharply as she held the gun in her hands.

"Touché PC Cooper." Jack said to her as he rushed from the Black SUV with her following him into Conway Clinic.

This brought a smile to her face as she remembered the look that he gave her after she said that to him, it seemed to be a mix of surprise, curiosity and respect.

All at once, she remembered the standoff with the alien life form; Gwen dropped her head on the rim of the tub and closed her eyes. It was a risk, tricking the alien into giving up Cary, a trick that still scared her to death. There was a part of her that truly felt sorry for the alien that they were forced to kill.

Gwen lifted her hand out of the now frigid water and touched her lips softly. She didn't know what possessed her to kiss Jack after the ordeal was over. She stood up from the water and delicately stepped onto the soft rug.

"Go home and do something normal, for me Gwen."

She lulled over those words as she dried off her wet skin and walked through her flat to her bedroom. Gwen was pulling her dark blue nightshirt over her head when she heard a soft knock at the door. She walked to the door slowly and looked through the peephole; surprised she unlocked the dead bolt and chain in order to open the door.

"Normal is boring and not so normal when you have a pterodactyl flying circles around your head." Jack said, looking down at the floor for a minute before pulling a bottle of scotch of one of his coat pockets. "Care to do something normal Cooper?"

Gwen shook her head and let him in, the door shutting softly once he was in her apartment.

Authors Note – I don't own Torchwood and oh my goodness finally perfected this chapter. It should flow perfectly. Thanks for reading! Hope you like it! Sorry about the lateness but I am 7 months pregnant so between baby showers, dr appointments and working there is little time left for writing.

Siodhna – Thank you so much for the review! Im glad you like it so far

Sage 1988 – Hmm Hmm yes mysteries indeed : P Hope you like my take!


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